Environmental Committee Mission “The mission of the Environmental Committee of SFZC is to help establish consistent policy and guidelines that will promote and encourage environmentally friendly practices for all three centers; to share information, practices, resources, and concerns about environmental issues; and to facilitate Zen Center’s role as a community model for sustainable living.”

Description As our practice reveals the assumptions of being separate from the world around us, what steps can we take that challenge and counter that standpoint? As we open to being supported by all things, what actions spring forth to embrace and sustain that which gives us life?

Many people meet these questions in their lives and practice. As a forum for these issues and to help facilitate the creation and implementation of actions that express them, the San Francisco Zen Center has an Environmental Committee. It has representatives from each of the three practice centers and at least one member of the board of directors. We meet on a monthly basis to discuss issues of interest and formulate ways of engaging the communities to address them.

One of the roles of the Environmental Committee has been to initiate a series of guidelines that provide clarity, guidance and continuity with regard to our environmental intentions to people as they move through the various training positions in our Centers. The guidelines also provide inspiration for the wider community with practical steps focused on exploring and expressing the relationship with our environment.